The World Wide Web (“Web”) is essentially a distributed depository of data files stored on Web servers connected by a global communications network known as the Internet. Users of the Web may request transmission of files to their own computers, i.e., client computer, for viewing, storing or printing. Each server computer stores files identified by a universal resource locator (URL) comprising an electronic address. Each URL is a physical reference in that each URL points to a particular server and identifies the location of a single file at that server. Many of the files stored on servers are documents written in a standard programming language known as hypertext mark-up language (HTML). HTML files are translated for viewing, printing or storing by a Web browser computer program running on the Web clients. The Web browser also communicates with Web servers. Using HTML, an author of such a Web page (a file written in HTML) can designate a specific word, phrase or image in the Web page as a hyperlink. Each hyperlink may be associated with a URL of another file stored on the Web. A user's selection of a hyperlink is an initiation of a request for the file located at the electronic address identified by the URL with which the hyperlink is associated. Since each traditional hyperlink is associated with a single URL, each hyperlink is associated with a single file having a particular location on a particular server.
A request for transmission of a file originates at the Web client and is submitted to a server computer by the Web browser software running on the client computer. In a typical arrangement, the request is then forwarded to a proxy computer interconnecting the client computer and the server computer. Upon a user's selection of a hyperlink, the client's Web browser issues a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) request to the server identified by the URL associated with the hyperlink. The request is intercepted by a proxy which then relays the request over the Internet to the identified server. The server responds by transmitting the requested file to the proxy, assuming that the requested file resides on the server at the electronic address identified in the URL. The proxy then relays the requested file to the client.
The standard HTML syntax of Web pages and the standard HTTP communications protocol supported by the Web guarantee that a Web client and Web browser can communicate with any Web server. The JAVA programming language and JAVA applets allow for platform independent application programs which can be executed by any Web client.
Many files on Web servers may be considered to be related. For example, due to the vastly heterogenous resources of Web clients and Web servers, there are a number of files which are related in that they contain the same or similar content, but are unique in that they have differing formats, e.g., postscript, ADOBE®, ACROBAT®, JPEG, GIF, TIFF, etc. to accommodate the capabilities of these vastly heterogenous client computers. Other files which do not have similar content also may be considered related. For example, a list of documents published by a single author, a grouping of a person's favorite Web sites, etc. Under the existing URL system, each file is presented with its own hyperlink. We have discovered that it would be advantageous to provide access to a group of related files through a single, logical access point, e.g., a hyperlink.